Exhibition: Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has assembled another spectacular examination of Middle Eastern history, this one filled with some 350 objects made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and other precious materials, including a haul of 3,400-year-old luxury goods found in the wreck of the oldest seagoing vessel ever discovered on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The museum has even recreated the vessel’s hull around the gallery holding the find. Museum design rarely goes farther to set the scene.
“Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.” is more than just a treasure show, and the boat is more a symbol than a stage set. The theme of this show is the long historical record of internationalism in the region.
Among its 17 tons of cargo were ten tons of copper ingots, and one of tin (tin and copper melted together give you bronze, and this was, after all, the middle Bronze Age), both represented here by examples. There were also glass ingots for industrial use, and ivory and ostrich eggs from Egypt, ebony from Nubia, and Canaanite jars filled with resin for cosmetics. Altogether there were products from 12 separate cultures stretching from Sicily to the Baltic to Central Asia, not to mention the polyglot passengers, who included (judging from their weapons and jewelry) Canaanite merchants, two noble Mycenean envoys on their way back to Greece and an elite mercenary to oversee the cargo.
Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, through March 15.
Egyptians welcome Obama victory
Americans woke up in Egypt Wednesday with the realization that in a short few months they will no longer be stigmatized by U.S. President George W. Bush when they tell an Egyptian they are American. Instead, a thumbs up signal might accompany the mention of one’s citizenship rather than a thumbs down and a “Bush is bad.”
The vast majority of Egyptians believe the Obama win is a stepping-stone for the United States toward regaining its moral strength in a region that has been at the heart of anti-Americanism.
Still, not all Egyptians were happy to see Obama earn the presidency. Coptic Christians mainly supported Republican presidential contender John McCain because some felt he would continue the war on terror.
Either way, Obama’s victory was historic for the Middle East, which has long looked to the U.S. for change. With his African origins and strong conviction to move the United States in a new direction, hope for a new direction remains in the hearts and minds of a majority of Arabs who have longed for a different American route in their world.
